According to latest estimates, the Senate version -- authored by Max Baucus (D-Montana) -- will cost a little over $800 billion over a ten-year period and even shave a little off the federal deficit. But policy analyst Dennis Smith with The Heritage Foundation is skeptical of the claims.

"They don't count Medicare spending," Smith points out. "Everyone in Washington, including the chairman, has said he wants to fix the Medicare physician fee schedule -- that is not done. So that would have cost $200 billion -- that was put off.

"They have not counted additional spending under the State Children Health Insurance Program [S-CHIP], so they haven't funded that"...

Despite the public outcry over President Obama's government-run healthcare plan, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is insistent on pushing through a government health insurance program that works like Medicare. One healthcare reform expert says Pelosi is not only disregarding the concerns of most Americans, but she's also disregarding the fact that Medicare is $38 trillion in debt and going bankrupt.

Roll Call is reporting that Speaker Pelosi (D-California) is planning to include in the House healthcare bill a new income tax on the wealthiest Americans, as well as a stronger government-run health insurance plan or "public option" than some moderate Blue Dog Democrats desire.

Blue Dogs in the House Energy and Commerce Committee had worked out a deal with Chairman Henry Waxman (D-California) to make a public option negotiate payment rates with medical providers instead of dictating them. However, Pelosi reportedly plans to peg public option payment rates to Medicare payment rates...

House Republicans on Thursday called for a hearing to examine the Obama administration's decision to probe a major insurance company, at the behest of Sen. Max Baucus, over a mailer to customers about health care legislation -- a move they call a politically motivated "gag order" on critics of the Democratic plan.

Republican criticism has swelled since the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services launched a probe into Humana, at the request of Baucus, D-Mont., over a mailer Baucus claimed misled seniors about proposed changes to Medicare.

Humana, one of the largest private carriers serving seniors under the Medicare Advantage program, focused its mailer on the potential for cuts to the service, which were being debated in the Finance Committee on Thursday...

Citizens who know government-run health care the best – the recipients of Medicare, Medicaid, TRICARE and other programs – say they oppose Washington's proposed expansion and think it will do more harm than good.